Viticulture and Winemaking in Abruzzo from the Unification of Italy to the Development of the Cooperation System

Wine history in Abruzzo may be traced as far back as the classical age, but it is only in the mid-nineteenth century that a turning point started the modernization of the sector. In fact, after the Unification of Italy, the construction of railroads along the Adriatic coast had suddenly approached the Abruzzo viticulture and winemaking to the demand of wine industries from Northern Italy and from transalpine countries. Despite the ups and downs determined by the national economic situation, by the trend of international trade relations, by the depopulation of the hinterland and by the diseases that struck vineyards, grapes and wine production in Abruzzo grew over the years. The growth of the wine sector, though, had to grapple with the extreme parcelling of estates, which hampered production modernization and did not allow farmers from Abruzzo to obtain favourable conditions on markets. It was only in the mid-50s that the progressive strengthening of cooperation in the primary sector led to the emergence of many wine cooperatives that, processing the products obtained by small and medium-sized farms, brought about the revival of the wine sector as well as the renewal of crop plants. The aim of this essay is to trace the economic history of viticulture and winemaking in Abruzzo, from the Unification of Italy to the 1960s.